villainsrpgfandomcom-20200215-history
No Conscience
Chapter One: Piercing Terror In the dark of night, on a lone street corner stood a very drunk man, standing under a streetlight. In his hand was an almost empty bottle of whiskey. "Well fuck you guys, you just don't know how to party!" he yelled back at a bar behind him that he was thrown out of. He took another swig from his bottle of liquor, and downed the rest of it. After the bottle was emptied, he threw the empty bottle to the ground, shattering it on the sidewalk. "Well, aren't you the party animal?" called out a voice. The drunken man looked around, but couldn't see anyone. "Damn right!" he declared. Then, a young man stepped into the light of the streetlight where the man could see him. He looked roughly fourteen, and was oddly dressed in a black suit, black slacks, formal shoes, and a white shirt with a red tie. He was smiling at the man, his hands folded behind his back. "Who da' hell're you?" the man inquired, his speech slurred. "Who I am isn't important. You, on the other hand....I see a lot in you. You have an extremely rebellious attitude, and hate being told what to do. You enjoy getting drunk for fun to spite people who condemn liquor for its harmful effects and drunk driving accidents. You drink very frequently; almost everyday. I imagine your liver is quite frail by now." A look of anger crossed the man's face. "So, what? You wanna' make sumthin' of it, cha' little brat?" The boy raised his eyebrows, his calm demeanor unwavering. "Oh, no. Not at all. In fact, I would like you give you precisely what you want." "Huh?" the man mumbled, confused. "All the liquor you can drink," the boy said, his smile growing wider. The man's eyes widened in surprise. "Uhhh?! R-really?!" The boy nodded. "Really." A large smile appeared on the man's face. "Well gimme' the booze! Where is it?" "Just follow me, and I'll take you to my secret stash," the boy said, turning his back to the man, and beginning to walk across the street. "S-sure!" the man replied eagerly, and proceeded to follow the young man, who led him to a pitch black limousine. The boy opened the door, and gestured the man to have a seat inside. The man sat down inside the limousine, and was greeted by the sight of innumberable bottles of liquor lining the floor of the limousine. A large grin spread across the man's face. In his mind, he had just entered heaven. The boy sat down in a seat across from the man, and closed the door to the limousine. He smiled at the man, and said, "Help yourself, my friend. You'll find that all these alcohols are top-of-the-line." The man picked up one bottle and without even looking to see what brand it was, opened it, and proceeded to drink. "That's it," the boy said, his smile slowly transforming into a smirk. "Drink to your heart's content." The man did just as the boy said, picking up on bottle after another, and drinking every last drop. "Tanks a lot for 'dis, kid," the man slurred out. "I've always wanted to just keep drinking and not have to stop, and....and...." the man paused, as he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his sides. He put his hands to his sides, confused. "Wha...? What the...." Then, sharp pain filled his sides, and he began to scream in pain, lurching over in the seat as he did so. "What....what's happening?!" the man shouted, panicing. The boy grinned. "Your liver and kidneys are failing, my friend." The man fell to the floor of the limousine, knocking over a few bottles of liquor that had been sitting there. "Kid! I need to go to a doctor! Please!" The boy slowly shook his head as he smirked down at the pained man. "No, I don't think so." The man looked up at him in shock. "What?! What do you-" his sentence was cut off as another scream of pain bellowed from the man "You're going to die here," the boy stated, a sinister hint in his voice. "No!" the man pleaded. "I need some help! Why won't you-" Then, the man began to have a convulsion, shaking violently on the floor of the limousine. Then, the spasms suddenly stopped, and the boy grinned down at his fallen prey, laughing scornfully. Then, he picked up one of the bottles of liquor, took the top off, picked up a small towel next to him on the seat, and stuffed the towel half-way inside the bottle. Next, he exited the limousine, and looked up at a large apartment complex right next to his vehicle. Smiling, he took a lighter out of his pocket, lit the towel on fire, and threw the bottle of liquor right at a window of the apartment building. An explosion ensued, taking apart a large section of wall, and fire spread all throughout the complex. Screams of fear and pain could be heard, and the boy smiled widely, the bright flames reflecting in his eyes. Then, he casually stretched, letting out a yawn. "Well, it's about time I headed home. Tomorrow will be quite the adventure, and I should certainly get a good night's sleep," he said aloud. "This year alone, there have been over two thousand deaths caused by malaria, begging the question: 'should the U.S. be contributing more money to stop these easily preventable deaths?' This proposal has been brought before congress many times, but a solution has yet to be reached. That concludes this morning broadcast." Adel turned away from the television, her eyes appeared distant, as though she were lost in thought, her silent sadness settling over her like a haze. "I know how you feel, Adel," her mother, sitting at the kitchen table with her, said. "But there doesn't seem to be much that can be done about it." Her mother gave her a sympathetic smile, trying to cheer her up. "I can't stand to see anyone suffer like that. Not even criminals. To be in so much pain that they feel death is the only way out..." Adel responded, gloomily. Her mother's smile widened. "You're a very compassionate young woman, and that's something to be proud of. You should continue to advocate for more aid for third world countries. Don't give up. One day, the voice of your cause may just be heard. But you have to keep fighting." "I know..." Adel said. "But that's not the only cause I support....I just....I just wish that people in general had more empathy." "Your empathy is one of a kind, Adel. Be proud that you're so special in such a wonderful way." Adel smiled sheepishly; her mother always knew how to cheer her up. After a little while, Adel packed up her bookbag, and her mother drove her to school for the day. Adel walked into her highschool building, and was greeted by the sight of a food drive box in the opening room. Often times, she gathered up as many canned goods from her cupboard as she could, and put them all in these boxes, trying to make as big of an impact as she could. Today, however, there were no canned foods she could give, and the box appeared to be filled from the last donation she had made the day before anyway. She made her way into her biology classroom, her first class of the day, and sat down. She was soon greeted by many of her friends who came into the classroom a little while after her. The boy in the black suit gazed at the large highschool building. He was poised, and ready to strike. Adel was looking at the teacher, listening to his lecture about terrestrial animals. Truly though, only a part of her was paying attention. She had concluded that it was near impossible to focus completely on the lectures for the whole class period. But she wasn't nearly as bad as other students, some of which texted during the entire class, others shamelessly sleeping. She and her friends weren't like that. They were relatively attentive and hardworking. She loved that she always managed to hang out with just the right crowd. Suddenly, there was an ear-shattering explosion from outside the classroom. Some students screamed, and the sleepers awakened instantly. Adel, who had her hands to her ears, trying to protect her ear-drums, slowly looked up at the door to the classroom. "What the hell was that...?" she choked out. The teacher, and the students, all gathered around the classroom door. The teacher slowly opened the door to reveal a very gruesome scene. Entire walls separating the corridors of the building were missing, and scorch marks lined the floors and ceiling. What was even worse were the severed body parts of students that had been blown apart by the explosion, and the copious amounts of blood all over the floor, and sections of the walls that still remained. Severed arms, legs, and the like, all saturated in blood. Adel's heart began to race. "A bomb...?" she thought. "Planted in the school....?" She stared with disbelief at the horrible sight she was facing. The teacher, quickly, began to round the students back into the classroom, locked the door with trembling hands, and instructed the students to get under their desks, and try to remain calm. The students, promptly, scrambled under their desks, but none could calm themselves down. Adel and her friends all looked at one another with expressions of great fear. Some students vomited on the floor, the sight of the dismembered body parts and blood still fresh in their minds. Then, the door to their classroom was blown to pieces by a small explosive, bit and pieces of the door flying all over the room. A boy in a black suit and red tie stepped into the room, holding an odd looking, purple gun with a cone-shaped barrel. The teacher, trying to protect his students, charged at the boy. But the boy simply raised the strange gun to the teacher's head, and fired a strange, orange energy beam. This beam pierced right through the teacher's skull, killing him instantly. He fell to the floor, blood spilling out from the hole in his head. Many of the students began to scream, and the boy began to shoot one student after another with his odd, energy gun, killing them. Tears spilled from Adel's eyes as she began to tremble. "No...!" she thought. "This can't be happening!!" Students, and close friends, that were near her were shot, and Adel soon became splashed with their blood. Soon, Adel was the only one alive. She looked around at her fallen friends. Her voice wavered "Steph...? Carly....? John....?" She looked over to the teacher. "Mr. Ashford....?" Then, the young man walked towards her, a large smile on her face. He moved the desk away from her so that he could see her in full view. Adel was on her knees, her eyes continuously gushing tears, staring up at the boy with wide eyes of terror. The boy pointed the gun right at Adel's forehead, and looked into her eyes, smiling. But then, he paused, and continued staring into Adel's eyes. There seemed to be something stopping him from pulling the trigger. "I see a lot of empathy in you," he said. "More than I've ever seen in anyone else." He laughed, and continued, "I don't have an ounce of empathy. I have no conscience at all. But you....you're like my exact opposite!" He laughs again, and lowers his gun. "No, no; it simply won't do to kill my opposite. Why, the world needs its diversity." He crouched down to Adel, a large smile on his face. "My name is Fatal. I surmise you'll be hearing about me quite a lot on the news." He stood up, smiling down at Adel. "Well, farewell for now." He turned around and threw a small explosive at the ground, creating a hole in the floor. He jumped down through the hole, disappearing from Adel's sight. Adel looked around at her dead friends, classmates, and teacher, and then, looked at her own blood-soaked clothing, tears continuing to stream from her eyes like waterfalls. Then, she put her hands to the sides of her head and released a loud, long scream of sheer terror and despair. Chapter Two: Grieving Innocent Heart Adel sat back in her hospital bed, staring blankly at the wall at the other end of the room. The television on the wall was on, set on a comedy channel, but Adel was looking off to the left of the television, completely ignoring it. Her parents had already come by and showered her with hugs and kisses, tears streaming down their faces, overjoyed that their only daughter had survived the massacre. The hospital still wanted to keep Adel overnight to monitor her emotional state and ensure that she was still mentally sound after such a trauma. Adel had been injected with a tranquilizer to help her relax after the incident, and while the feeling of the tranquilizer was quite pleasant to Adel, she couldn't stop thinking about the slaughter of her friends and classmates. It replayed over and over again in her head. "My friends...." she thought. "All dead....." She turned her head to the right and looked out the window at the night sky. She felt positively hollow. She supposed that was only natural, but she worried that she may never feel the same again. She tried to force herself to stop reliving the horrific slaughter, and think about something else. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to mind was the killer's weapon. "What was that thing?" she thought. She'd never seen anything like it. Not only did it look like something from a science fiction movie, but it fired something very strange. "What was it even shooting? It looked like....light...like some kind of energy....." Then, she thought of the killer's face....inches away from her own as he spoke to her. Despite the warm temperature of the hospital room, a cold chill went down Adel's spine. "He called himself...Fatal..." Just then, a nurse came into the room, pulling Adel's thoughts away from the killer. Smiling with compassion, the nurse sat down on the side of the bed and spoke with Adel. Adel was honest with her, telling the nurse how the slaughter kept replaying through her head, how miserable she felt with all of her friends being dead, and how she feared she may never be the same again. The nurse did her best to comfort Adel, and deemed her to be perfectly mentally sound in spite of being quite jarred, which was only natural. She told Adel that tomorrow morning, her parents could come to pick her up, and she could go home. This brought some joy to Adel; she thought being home would make her feel at least a little better. Then, the nurse gave Adel another sedative to help relax her further, and help her sleep for the night. She turned out the lights in Adel's room, wished her good night, and left. Adel waited several minutes after the nurse left, fighting off the urge to sleep. Then, when she was convinced that no one else would disturb her for the evening for anything else, she crawled to the foot of her bed, and turned the television back on with the remote on the night stand. She switched over to the news, which was covering the massacre in full detail. A male reporter with tired eyes and a grim expression stood outside the bits and pieces that remained of Adel's high school. The man appeared to be holding back tears himself. "The building was hit with several explosives of varying degrees. Most students and faculty were killed by the explosions. The remaining victims were killed by unknown means, but large holes were found running straight through their heads. The only surviving victim told police that the killer was a young man who called himself 'Fatal.' Here is a video clip of the killer caught by security cameras on the campus that survived the damage." Fatal's image appeared on the screen, and Adel felt cold sweat secrete from her pores. "Him..." she muttered. The image was blurry and somewhat hard to make out, but Adel could recognize him, nonetheless. The footage played, showing Fatal moving into the school building. The faces of Adel's friends came to her mind, and tears began to flow from her eyes again, a steady stream. "Why, you bastard?" she whispered aloud. "Why...?" The next day, her parents came to the hosptital and brought her home, her mother offering to make Adel's favorite foods for dinner: tacos, chili, and spaghetti pie (a concoction of spaghetti noodles with cheese, grounded meats, and tomato sauce). Her father offered to take her to a comic book store to get her whatever she wanted, and then take her to Walmart to buy her anything she desired. This brightened Adel's mood even more; she was already somewhat uplifted at the idea of going home for the first time after the madness. Adel and her family arrived home, and Adel slumped down in her favorite armchair in the living room, just enjoying being home. Her dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, jumped onto her lap, wagging his tail wildly, trying to lick her face. Smiling she pushed him away from her face, but welcomed him on her lap, patting his head and scratching his ears. Then, unfortunately, Fatal came back to Adel's mind, and her smile faded as fear gripped her mind yet again. She remembered his words to her: "...I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about me on the news." After mulling the words over for a while, Adel pushed her fear away, trying to ignore it to the best of her abilities. Instead, she attempted to replace her fear with anger. She glared, looked over at the television in the living room, and thought, "I'll watch the news, Fatal. And I'll look forward to the day you're struck down." Chapter Three: Revolting Madness Fatal casually strolled into the hospital, his usual smile on his face. He knew he didn't have much to worry about, as most photographs or recorded images of him displayed on the news were very obscure. He had been careful in that regard, destroying various cameras, mainly high-definition cameras, to keep his identity as safe as he could. He found the maternity ward, and his smile grew wider. From the outside, he could see numerous babies, slumbering peacefully; the maternity ward had glass walls from four feet up to the ceiling. Quietly, Fatal opened up the door, walked inside, and closed the door behind him. The nurse at the far end of the room looked up at him, a bit surprised, and softly said, "Hello, can I help you?" Fatal smiled amiably at her, shook his head, and said, "Oh, I'm afraid not." Quickly, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a small yellow pellet, and swiftly threw it against the wall, next to the head of the nurse. The pellet exploded rather quietly upon impact with the wall, and released a small amount of sleeping gas that filled the nurse's lungs. She passed out, and fell to the floor. Rubbing his hands together, Fatal walked towards the center of the room, looking around at all the infants. "Now, then...time to begin." He looked around the room, and saw that there were two security cameras. He pulled out his laser gun from his right pocket, and twisted the pointed barrel to the right, making the gun electrically charged. He pointed the gun at the floor, and pulled the trigger, releasing a harmless, electromagnetic pulse that moved through the room, and destroyed the circuitry of each camera. Once he saw the lights on the cameras go dead, he put his laser gun back in his right pocket. Then, he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a specialized gun, but this one was different from his laser gun. This one fired a pink, sticky substance. He didn't know the name of the substance, and simply called it "goo." He looked up at the ventilation duct on the ceiling, and fired the pink goo at the duct. Eventually, the duct was completely covered with the pink goo, and airtight. Next, he put his goo gun back in his pocket, and unstrapped the canister that was secured to his waist by a thin belt. It was made to look like a simple thermis, but it was filled with carbon monoxide. He gently placed the canister down on the floor, and opened it. The carbon monoxide gas quickly started to flow out from the canister, and Fatal backed up, smiling at it. Then, he looked around at the sleeping babies, and whispered, "Sweet dreams, little ones." He turned, opened the door, locked it from the inside, and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him... A dark-skinned guard of the hospital, in full uniform was making his rounds, smiling and waving at as many patients as he could. He enjoyed his work, and took pride in helping the sick to feel better. He knew that sometimes, all it took was a smile to make someone's day. But then, as he neared one of the maternity wards, he saw a peculiar gas filling the room. His eyes widened, and he sprinted towards the room. He pulled on the door knob, only to find that the door had been locked from the inside. Thinking quickly, he backed up and rammed into the door a few times, until, finally, he forced the door open, breaking the lock in the process. He ran to the canister and closed it, stopping the dispersal of the gas. Just for good measure, he took off his top suit shirt, and wrapped the canister in it. Then, he got on his radio, yelling, "Emergency! Gas leak in Maternity Ward B! All available guards to aforementioned sector stat!!" Many of the babies had been roused by the noise, and were now awake, crying. However, now that the dispersal of the gas had stopped and the door was open, they were safe. The guard knelt down beside the nurse, checking her pulse on her wrist and finding that she was still alive as well. Fatal watched these events from a distance outside the hospital, using binoculars as he knelt down from a wooded area near the hospital. He frowning lightly, somewhat disappointed. Then, he lowered the binoculars, stood up, and said, "Oh, well. Better luck next time, I suppose..." Adel was sitting on a chair close to the television in her living room, playing a hand-held game. The news was on, and she was waiting for any new stories about Fatal, mentally praying for his capture. So far, however, nothing had come up. Yesterday, she'd lost her best friends to this killer, and she pined for justice. Then, as she played her game, she heard one reporter's voice abruptly end and replaced with the voice of another, "We have breaking news from the St. Valentine's Hospital in Piscataway." Adel looked up from her game, curious. "A canister of carbon monoxide was opened in one of the maternity wards, and the ventilation duct was found completely sealed by a strange, pink substance. The door was also locked from the inside, and the security cameras within were found non-functional. Thankfully, a guard managed to break into the room and close the canister before it was too late. To be safe, the babies in the ward were evacuated and moved to different rooms, but the ward was successfully filtered of the gas. The attending nurse was found unconscious on the floor, and reported seeing a young man in a suit walk into the room before she was knocked out with another gas. Authorities believe this was another murder attempt by the serial killer known as Fatal, given the nurse's description of the young man who entered the room. The infants are all in perfect health conditions, but this could have turned into a serious tragedy had it not been for the heroic actions of Officer Venice." Adel's blood went cold in her veins, and she dropped her hand-held game to the floor, her eyes wide with shock and sadness. A cold sweat began to secrete from her forehead, and she trembled slightly. "He....he went after babies? Infants?!" she thought. Her pulse raced, as well as her mind. She had gone completely limp in her chair, staring at the television screen, yet no longer seeing anything on it. "What kind of monster....is this....?" A few hours later, Adel's parents came home from work. She decided not to tell them what she had heard on the news. If they discovered she was watching the news to keep track of Fatal, they would most definitely be upset. But Adel couldn't help it. She wanted to see Fatal brought down with her own eyes. Adel put on a brave face, and acted like everything was fine, not wanting to worry her parents. They had dinner and talked about their days. Adel, of course, lied and told them that she was just relaxing, playing her favorite video games. Her parents nodded approvingly, happy that she was relaxing and enjoying herself. They believed it was the quicket road to recovery, and the fastest way to regain a sense of normalcy. After dinner, they sat down together in the living room, and watched a superhero movie that Adel loved. It managed to take her mind off of Fatal almost completely, sedating her in a way. Before the movie, Adel also took some sedatives that were now prescribed to her to help her cope with the anxiety disorder the doctors believed she may now have. The sedatives, combined with a nice relaxing evening at home, watching her favorite movie, made Adel feel almost whole again. Once the movie was over, it was quite late, and everyone went to bed. Adel drifted into the most peaceful sleep she'd had in a long time... The next morning, Adel was woken by the sound of police sirens wailing. Slowly, groggily, she sat up in bed, wiping her eyes with her arms. Then, she heard a police officier, obviously speaking through a megaphone, "Fatal! We have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!" This completely jolted Adel awake. She jumped out of bed, dressed in her usual sleeping attire: a loose, baggy t-shirt, and denim shorts. She ran down the stairs, and out the front door, standing on her porch, and saw what she could only describe as an army of police officers, completely surrounding a small convenience store on the corner of the block across from hers. A large, dogwood tree stood on her front lawn, so Adel walked down the steps of her front porch to get a better look. She smiled widely at the sight of so many police officers, armed with top-of-the-line artillery, all fixated on the convience store that Fatal was apparently inside. She didn't have to worry about her parents wanting her to stay inside, as they were already at work. She raised a tightened fist up close to her heart, smiling with a triumphant look in her eye. "Yes!" she thought. "Yes! They got him now!" But then....a small, black orb rolled out of the convience store, and by the time the police realized what the disguised object was, it was too late. The device exploded with great force, killing virtually every police officer in the unit. Adel's eyes widened in horror, her heart sinking greatly. Blood splatter stained the street, sidewalk, and most of the convenience store. Then, Fatal, dressed in his usual suit, strolled out of the convenience store, shooting the remaining officers that survived with his strange laser gun, killing them instantly. Adel's vision became blurry as tears began to form in her eyes. "No..." she thought. "No, damn it. This time we...we had him!" Then, Adel's eyes widened again, sending some tears streaming down her face, as she saw Fatal do something monstrous. With his laser gun, Fatal shot the heads off of various dead officers, and proceeded to mount their heads on the spikes of a metal fence outside of a school, right next to the convenience store. Their heads mounted, Adel could see the blank, frozen expressions of the dead policemen. The decapitated heads spilled blood down the fence posts, pooling at the sidewalk below. Seeing this, Adel couldn't help but keel over on her front lawn and vomit. Fatal must have heard this, as he looked across the street and saw Adel. Smiling, he casually walked across the street, right up to her, his hands folded behind his back. "Well, hello there, opposite!" Adel looked up, saw him, and proceeded to crawl backwards, trying to put as much distance between herself and him. Her heart and mind raced. "Stay away!" she shouted. "Don't come any closer!" Fatal raised his hands a bit, his palms facing Adel, as though trying to protect himself, and said, "Now, now, my opposite, I told you I don't mean you any harm." A few tears streaming down her face, and some vomit dripping from the corner of her mouth, Adel glared ferociously at Fatal. "What do you want?!" she bellowed. The sick smile never leaving his face, Fatal responded, "Oh, I just wanted to say hello and see how you were doing." "I'm doing horrible thanks to you!" A look of genuine sadness crossed Fatal's face, which confused Adel. "Oh? Well, I...suppose that's only natural. But, for what it's worth, I am....honestly sorry." Adel raised an eyebrow. "What?" she whispered. "I don't mean to cause you so much trouble. Not you." "Then stop killing people!!" Adel screamed. A sympathetic look still on his face, Fatal half-smiled and said, "Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Perhaps I'll just refrain from killing people in your area. But I won't stop killing." Adel crawled backwards a bit more. "Just get out of here!! I don't want to see your face!!" Fatal made a slight, courteous bow, and said, "As you wish. I do hope you feel better soon, though." And with that, Fatal threw a smoke bomb at the ground, covering the surrounding area with a thick, white smoke that made Adel cough a little. After it cleared up, Fatal was gone. Slowly, Adel got back up, walked back into her house, and collapsed onto the couch in the living room, sobbing. Adel wept for a long time, but as she began to settle down, she began to question Fatal's actions towards her. His words rang in her head: "...for what it's worth, I ''am....honestly sorry." "Sorry?" she thought. "Why is he sorry for upsetting me? I just don't....get him at all!! What's so special about me that he wants to refrain from distressing me? I....I just don't understand. I know he won't kill me because I'm his 'opposite'.....but why does he care if what he does troubles me?" She let out a long sigh, and buried her face into one of the small, couch pillows. "Someone has to stop him. And if an army of special police operatives can't do it....who can?" she thought. Later that night, Adel watched the news and saw the story about Fatal's assault on the convenience store across the street from her house. They showed graphic images, and one chilled Adel to the bone. It was a picture of a dead, at least four months pregnant woman, a hole shot through her head, and a hole shot through her stomach, right where the baby was. Blood mixed with amniotic fluid gushed from the open wound in her stomach, and Adel had the urge to vomit again. However, this time she repressed it. "A pregnant woman..." she thought. "And Fatal shot her stomach just to make sure the baby would die as well....." Adel's blood ran cold. "Someone....has got to stop this monster...but who...?" Then, Adel's eyes widened as she realized something. "Fatal will kill anyone he is willing to," she thought. "However...he refuses to kill me. Twice now, he's had the opportunity, and hasn't done it. He said he won't kill me because I'm his opposite....if that's true....then I have to be the one to kill him...." Adel struggled with the decision for quite a while. A flood of thoughts raced through her mind. "I've never killed anyone before....what if I can't do it? Is this really what's best? What right do I have to take another's life?" But eventually, Adel came to the conclusion that if Fatal wasn't stopped, he would keep murdering people and filling the living with misery and terror. "And..." Adel thought. "If I would only disable him and have him sent to prison....he would be eaten alive there....I know he's a crazed psychopath, but he's still....a young man...and I can't stand seeing young people in prison....this....is what's truly best...." Adel sighed with sadness, but her mind was made up. She was going to have to kill Fatal. Chapter Four: Devising a Plan Adel sat on her bed, her head bowed, thinking of how she was going to find Fatal. "He gets around from place to place really fast...I don't know how he's doing it...." she thought. "What can I possibly do to track him down?" She raised her head. "Hmm...well, he did show up here. Maybe he'll show up somewhere around here again. Hm...wishful thinking...but...I don't know what else to do..." After thinking about it for a long while, Adel let out a defeated sigh, and thought, "There's no way around it. I have to wait until he's close enough to my area." She crossed her arms. "And how exactly should I kill him?" Adel looked over at the window sill in her room and saw the dagger that her parents had bought her from the Renaissance Fair in the summer. Slowly, a smile spread across Adel's face. Adel shoved the sheathed dagger into her pocket, and concealed it, letting her shirt hang down over it. Then, she went down to her living room, printed out a map of her county, Cubbington County, and turned on the news. While the news played, Adel studied the map, trying to memorize the areas that were closest to her; places that she could travel to on foot. She couldn't so well ask her parents to drive her to places where Fatal was wreaking havoc. She pulled her dagger out of its sheath, and looked over its cold, metal blade. A sliver of doubt slipped into her mind as she gazed at the weapon. "Can I really do this?" Her shoulders slumped slightly, a sad expression covering her face. "Can I really stap someone to death? Or slit their throat?" Adel shivered at the thought of committing any of these actions, her blood running cold in her veins. Then, her hand tightened around the handle of the dagger, and her expression grew even bleaker. "But....what choice do I have? Fatal has to be stopped..." She sighed, and put the dagger back in its sheath. "And I don't think prison could hold him. He's too cunning...and he has special tools," she thought. She looked down at the floor, sadly, and whispered, "I have to kill him. There's no other way." Adel spent most of the day watching the news, which was predominantly about Fatal, listening closely, and waiting. The killer was rampaging on, as usual, killing many people. An apartment complex was bombed, killing thirty-one people, and wounding seventeen others. A pet store was broken into, and all the employees and animals were killed, large holes in their heads and other places, no dobut from Fatal's strange "laser gun". Adel was disgusted by it all, but was helpless to stop it. When the commercials came on, Adel studied her map intensively, wrote down the names of the areas closest to where she lived, and tried to memorize them. When the news would come back on, Adel's eyes would be glued to the screen as she continued to watch and wait. However, Fatal never came close enough to her hometown. "He seems to be jumping around all over the place," Adel thought as she turned off the television for the day. "He gets from one city to the next in no time...how the hell is he doing it?" Fatal appeared to be roughly her age; sixteen. Hence, he was legally too young to drive. Adel considered that he may be driving around illegally, but that seemed unlikely, as he would most likely be pulled over quite a number of times. Any competent police officer would notice a minor behind the wheel of a car. And Adel's generation tended to look even younger than they were. Adel scratched her forehead lightly, trying to come up with an answer. Then, she had an idea. "What if he's getting someone else to drive him around? Maybe...maybe he has an accomplice..." Her eyes widened. "Or worse....a hostage that he's forcing into working for him." Adel shivered at the thought. Later that night, Adel was lying awake, staring at her bedroom ceiling. Sleeping had been difficult ever since the attack at the school, and Adel frequently had nightmares when she did sleep. This evening, she had taken a tranquilizer before going to bed, and it was helping her relax quite a bit. However, she found that she still couldn't take her mind off Fatal. Whenever she tried to think about something else, images of her dead friends would flash in her mind, making her sick with sorrow and anxiety. However, she didn't feel particularly angry or vengeful. "Fatal's hopelessly insane," she thought. "I can't be that angry with someone for being incredibly sick. Fatal..." she looked out her bedroom window, "I wonder what happened to him....that made him like this...." Chapter Five: Forever Lost Adel awoke the next morning, and began her usual routine of showering, eating breakfast, and turning on the news. She collapsed into the armchair and prepared for another long day of waiting. She grimaced at the thought of spending another day watching Fatal rampage and being helpless to stop him, but she had to watch the news to see where he was. Then, she heard a loud explosion outside. Surpised, she took hold of her dagger and ran outside to see what had happened. She saw black smoke rising off to the east, and decided to follow it. She knew that Fatal used explosives, and if he was here, it was her chance. After a bit of walking, she found the source of the black smoke, though most of it had dissipated. A fairly large house at the end of her block now had a large blast hole in it. She looked inside discreetly, but couldn't see much past the debris. She took a deep breath, and walked inside. The whole house was in disarray: tall shelving units had been toppled, scattering innumerable items to the floor, windows had been smashed, part of the ceiling was missing....and when Adel saw what she could only assume was the kitchen, she saw the bloodied severed heads of the family members sitting on the table. They were all put together in a perfect line. Adel deduced that they must have been killed a while ago. The explosion she heard may have just been done for destructive effect. The severed heads were still bleeding, however, their blood cascading to the floor, pooling at the ground. The headless bodies were positioned in various locations around the house. One was seated in a chair in the kitchen, one was lying on a very charred couch, one was lying on a bed in the living room...the headless bodies bled out through their neck areas. Adel'd had her hand to her mouth, trying to keep herself from getting sick, but it proved to be all in vain. She fell to her knees and threw up onto the floor. Then, she heard movement near the kitchen, and looked up to see Fatal, in his usual suit, looking over at her from the kitchen. Once Fatal recognized Adel, he smiled and strolled over to her. "Ah! Hello there, opposite! Do you like my lifesized dollhouse?" Adel grit her teeth and glared at him through tear-filled eys. "Dollhouse?!" she yelled. "Yes, of course!" he replied, looking down at her with a large smile. "I arranged all the members of the household, as you can see." "This is fucking ''sick, Fatal!" Adel bellowed, growing angrier by the second. Then, she vomited again, right at Fatal's feet. Fatal's smile disappeared. "Ah, I've made you nauseous, I see. I'm sorry." Adel got to her feet and pushed Fatal back as hard as she could with her hands. He stumbled back a few feet, and looked at Adel with a somber expression. Adel screamed, "What's with you, anyway?! You're okay with killing a whole family but you feel bad for making me nauseous?!" Fatal shrugged. "Well.....yes." "Why?!" "You're my opposite. I don't want to cause you any strife." "I don't get you! What does me being your opposite have to do with anything?!" Adel vomited once again, holding her stomach. Fatal's expression changed to one of slight sadness, and he walked towards Adel. Adel held out her hand. "Stay away from me you sick freak!!" "My, I've really upset you this time..." "Of course you have!" Adel screamed, tears continuing to stream down her face. "Why wouldn't this upset me?! You killed an entire family! Why?! Why do you kill people at all?!" Fatal half-smiled, a sinister look in his eye. "I kill people to feel powerful. Having the ultimate power over life and death bestows one with a great sense of control." Adel stared at him. "Power? Control? What happened to you?" Fatal raised an eyebrow. "Hm?" "What happened to you that made you like this? What was your family like? Do you have a family?" Chuckling, a large smirk appeared on Fatal's face. "Does it really matter what happened to me?" Adel's eyes widened. "What? Of course it does!" "Why? So people can see what made me so crazy and learn from it?" Adel nodded. "Yes!" "And where exactly would that benefit me?" "What?" "What would I get out of the deal?" "Well....we can help you," Adel started, thinking she could possibly drop the option of killing him. However, Fatal started laughing. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I'm much too far gone. No one can help me. I simply love killing people far too much." The two, then, began to hear the faint sound of police sirens wailing in the distance. Fatal's eyes widened. "Ah...well, if you'll excuse me, opposite, I must be going now." Then, he turned around, and started walking away. Adel, quickly, pulled out her dagger, and pulled the blade out of the sheath. She got ready to throw it at Fatal, who was still fairly close, but she hesitated. Her arm trembled as she thought about ending his life. "C'mon..." she thought. "I have to...." Finally, she threw the dagger, and it landed squarely in Fatal's bak, causing him to yell in pain, and fall to his knees. Some blood shot out, and some trickled down his back, adding to the pool of blood already in the room. Fatal reached behind him, pulled the dagger out, dropped it, and ran off, out of the house, the debris of the house obscuring Adel's sight of him. Adel fell to her knees. "No....damn it...." she said. "He got away.....I was so close...." She started crying a bit more heavily until the sirens got louder. She got up, and went out the way Fatal had, trying to find him, picking up her dagger on her way. She looked all around, but couldn't find Fatal. She gripped her dagger tightly, her frustration building. Then, she saw the trail of blood Fatal had left behind. Feeling a glimmer of hope, Adel gave chase. Final Chapter: No More Adel ran after Fatal for a few minutes, until, eventually, the trail went into a small forest near Adel's old elementary school. She went in, and saw Fatal lying on the ground, his head propped up by fallen log. Slowly, he turned his head, and looked at her. Adel could have sworn that his eyes looked different than they normally did. His whole demeanor appeared different than it was a few minutes prior. He seemed vulnerable....and even sad. "Opposite," he said softly. "I never did learn your name..." "Adel..." she answered. "Adel...." Adel wasn't sure if he was dying, or if she should finish him off before he could recover. She pulled her dagger out of the sheath once again, and held it in her hand, the blade pointing down. Fatal's eyes widened when he saw the dagger, and he smiled. "Ah.....yes......" Adel raised an eyebrow. "This wound in my back won't kill me.....," he continued. "Why don't you finish me off.....? Before I.....recover...." "What?" "Go on.....kill me...." Fatal said, his smile widening. Adel couldn't believe what Fatal was saying. "Wait," she thought. "Does he want me to kill him in some kind of attempt to make me similar to him...? To make me a killer?" "If you don't.....I'm only going to kill more people....you know that...." he said. Adel grit her teeth. She didn't know what to do. "Go on now, Adel.....finish me...." Her grip on the dagger tightened. "Is that what this was?" she thought. "He told me I was his opposite...he wouldn't kill me because of it....did he always want to take his opposite and turn them into a monster, like him? Some kind of sick, twisted goal to darken a good heart?" Fatal stared into her eyes. "Kill me...." he said again. "I....don't know if I can...." Adel said, losing her resolve. Fatal's smile faded, and a tear went down his cheek. Adel's eyes widened. "What....?" she thought. Fatal said nothing as more tears continued to stream down his face. Finally, Adel's muscles relaxed, and she looked Fatal in the eyes with a somewhat surprised expression. "I understand..." she thought. "Kill me, Adel...." Fatal said again. Reluctantly, Adel began to walk towards him, dagger in hand. She knelt down, and raised the dagger. Fatal smiled again. "Yes....that's it....do it....." Adel's arm quivered. Tears streamed down her face. "Kill me...." She plunged the dagger into Fatal's chest, right into his heart. Fatal gasped in pain, and coughed up a little bit of blood. She pulled her dagger out, her arms shaking a bit. Then, Fatal closed his eyes, a large smile forming on his face, and took his last breath. His smile remained on his face. Adel put her fingers to his throat, but couldn't feel a pulse. She knew that it wasn't possible for people to remain smiling once they were dead, but here Fatal was. Smiling, dead on the ground. She stood up, and put the dagger back in its sheath, looking down at Fatal. "I killed him..." she thought. But oddly, she didn't feel sad, she didn't feel guilty....all she could feel was peace. Not questioning it, Adel pulled out her cellphone and called the police. Much later that day, Adel was home, watching the news. Her parents weren't sure whether to scream at her for going after a serial killer or congratulate her for stopping him. Ultimately, however, they were just happy that Adel was safe. The news showed stories of Fatal's body being recovered in the woods. Adel had declined to appear on camera, so she didn't show up. Another news story told of Fatal's mentally deranged limo driver being arrested. "So that's how he was getting around..." she thought. Later that night, Adel's parents took her out for ice cream, and told her about the new school she would go to. The whole family was talking and laughing, and things finally seemed tranquil and happy again after far too long. That night, Adel had a very restful night's sleep, her last thoughts being, "It's finally over..." THE END Category:Grimdark Category:Horror Category:Story Category:Hero Forever Category:Finished Stories